


Valentine

by therune



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-12-27
Updated: 2009-12-27
Packaged: 2017-10-05 07:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therune/pseuds/therune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It´s Valentine´s Day in Keystone. James Jesse, aka the Trickster, takes some time to reflect on his relationship and the people close to him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

It was the 13th of February in Keystone City. The sun had just risen over the horizon and painted the snow that covered the city in shades of pink and sparkling gold.  
The winter seemed adamant not to leave for spring this year.  
James Jesse, known as the Trickster or Giovanni Giuseppe to a selected few, sat on the window sill and watched the city stir to live. He was clad only in pyjama pants and warm, comfy shoes that resembled bear paws. In his hands he cradled a steaming mug of coffee from which he occasionally sipped.  
As long as he could remember he had always been awake when the sun rose. He savored those little moments of nearly frozen time before the busy buzzing of day took over.

James looked at his sleeping boyfriend in their bed. Piper was almost hidden completely under the blue-striped covers save his adorable nose.  
It had taken James some time to get used to thinking that words like "pretty", "handsome" or "lovely" could attribute to men. Or, to be precise, to one man.  
He had felt it at first as he decided to take down the Rogues and had run into Piper. It was either one hell of a coincidence or a touch of destiny that they had chosen to do the exact same thing at the same time.

His superiors at the bureau had thought that he was a loyal agent, intelligent and resourceful enough to take the Rogues out.  
The Rogues had welcomed him with open arms (not entirely) and they would always stick together when one of them wanted help. Only Piper had known that there was something off.  
When Len had asked him why he wanted to be a Rogue again, he claimed that the Top´s alleged brainwashing had been undone and that he was now himself again - and he was a Rogue after all.  
There was one easy way to get out of Len´s cross lines: blame the Top. It was magic: as soon as you said that it was Roscoe´s fault, Len´s attention focused on him alone. James was a con man, he knew how to read people.  
Len´s relationship with Roscoe hadn´t always been the best; first awkward tolerance, then Roscoe dated Len´s baby sister, bloody rage paired with overprotective strictness followed, was replaced by guilt and regret when Rosoce died and after Top had somehow resurrected himself while Lisa stayed dead the hatred paired with guilt over his sister´s death took over completely. He just

couldn´t look at Roscoe without thinking of Lisa - thinking of Lisa led his thoughts to her death, how he failed to protect her and then he projected his anger to the one person whom he could blame selfishly.

James may have been an only child, but when he was still a kid and traveled with the circus, they were one big family with a lot of kids. His brothers (and sister, the wire dancer) meant the world to him back then and he still carried a lot of fond memories in his heart.

On that day when Mick, Mark and Evan celebrated in the hotel room, he was out on the balcony with Piper.  
Piper never had been the easiest person to read, but it seemed as if James couldn´t get past the green glasses now, no matter how he tried. Piper´s body language spoke words of iron determination and an inner roughness he had never sensed in Piper before, not even when he joined the Project.

And in turn, he himself seemed like an open book to Piper. James always thought that he was opaque to people, that no one could see into his heart and soul, but Piper had sneaked behind his defenses unbelievably fast. He knew that James wasn´t here because of some silly brain-washing. He was here for his family.

Family

Family was the one thing a Rogue would ever respect. They weren´t related by blood, but by life, mind and adventures. Deep down, they all craved inner strength, peace, safety, companionship. They all came from broken homes, but together they formed a better one. You could rely on the Rogues when it came down to it. There was a certain kind of trust and a sense of belonging that James had never felt before when he joined the Rogues. He was used to care for himself - that was why he created the shoes. He couldn´t rely on his father to catch him, so he had to catch himself when he fell down.  
With the shoes, he never needed to be afraid of falling again. He was safe.  
And with the Rogues he discovered that there were people to catch him. Whether it was actually catching him when he fell, whether it was a hand to guide him through worries and doubts...they were there for him. He could rely on them and in turn he made sure to make them trust him.

James had missed that. After the big mess started, spiraling down from Roscoe´s death, to Piper´s insanity, Zoom, the infinite crisis, the death of Sam, the death of Barry Allen, his own personal hell (which was also the real hell) he couldn´t turn back to the Rogues.  
Times had changed.  
Times had changed them.  
He was back to care for himself.

Then the Rogues War - it tore his heart. Fighting friends... friends you used to trust your life with, friends you swore never to betray - but it wasn´t as if he had had a choice.  
He had never told it anyone, but after his stay at hell he paid attention to his instincts, to silly urges, unexplainable phobias, to discomfort about something. The experience had changed him, shook him to the core.  
So when he woke up one day with a bad feeling in his gut and heart, he had to do something. Worries about his old friends crossed his mind ever since and then he knew. He knew that there was something bad waiting for them. And the thought that if he could take them out of the game, they´d be out of the equation. He believed that he could trick the higher power that was out to get them. He was the Trickster after all.

He initiated the Rogues War; justified it with his talk of "I´m an FBI agent", "I fight on the side of the angels" and "I want to take that little snot out." While the last statement was in fact true (he absolutely loathed that punk), the others were hollow lies.  
James thought that he had failed when the Rogues War had done nothing to improve the situation, but Roscoe - dear, old Roscoe - had presented him with the perfect excuse to try it again. And this time, he´d do it right.

He wrote all the information he could get on the Rogues with invisible ink on his "will". He certainly didn´t expect to die and his real "will" had already been written years ago, but he had a good reason for all the paperwork and it showed his superiors that he was serious and they supplied him with all the information he could possibly need.  
But all his careful planning, all his scheming had only led to a balcony and Piper.

That sneaky redhead had immediately seen through all his defenses without giving him any information in return - except that they both knew that there was more to the family they missed. That was the one and only thing James would never not find in any of them. You might hate them, you might fight with them, but in the end they´d always be family. They´d always be a part of you - and both wanted that. Both desired this safety. Both wished that it could be different, but they had their own missions:  
Piper wanted revenge for his parents and something else. James hadn´t been sure what that "something" was at that time, but he would find out what secret agenda Piper could possibly had. And he himself still wanted to save the Rogues.

As Keystone´s wind whipped his cape around, tore at Piper´s hood, he felt his heart melt. There was something to Piper ... he couldn´t put his finger on it, but...  
right then the first thought of "I´m curious. Why is Piper here? I need to know more about him. I want to know him better" had crossed his mind. Professional interest....it had to be.

Then the bar and the brawl - James was impressed. Piper showed anger, strength and unforgiving determination like he had never seen it before. After all that shit that happened to him, Piper was still able and willing to fight. He didn´t know where, but Piper had picked up some bit of martial arts. Piper used kicks to defend himself instead of the usual punches that every Rogue knew (the Snart face punch, Rory bodyslam and the Boomer Special). James had not admitted it to himself, but he spent a considerable amount of time watching a guy´s legs, thinking - if not admiring, then - appreciative thoughts.

Then the next crisis. Death of a speedster, death of the kid - probably the worst day in his life. That damned Inertia and that damn Kadabra - Kadabra meant trouble! He was the one that set the Rogues up with Neron´s deal and now this! And Inertia - a speedster! You don´t side with a speedster!  
Jaes had to admit that he did beat the Flash, but only not to blow his cover before the time and he had stopped in time. He tried to prevent the final blow, but it had been too late. Poor Bart - this wasn´t supposed to happen. This was bad.

And then it hit him - the uneasy feeling he had had all along - this was it. He had tried to prevent the Rogues from doing this and from now on it would go downhill in a painful spiral. His first instinct was to grab Piper and run - which was exactly what he did.  
Piper was too shocked to question him, to talk, to do anything but run. They just ran and ran until the air they breathed burned like fire in their lungs and their bodies were heavy as lead. He didn´t know where they were, what day it was, he only knew that they had to hide, that they couldn´t allow themselves to be found, that he had to keep Piper safe.  
In his mind he chalked these thoughts up to stress, adrenaline, confusion, the need for self-preservation and the need to save ...Piper?  
Why did he think about Piper so much this time? Drive to keep the family save? Or was there more to it?

Of course he felt bad for Bart (he still had nightmares about that), but when Piper had wanted to go to the funeral he had refused. It felt right to honor, to mourn the kid but James wasn´t crazy - they would get caught. This trip would not end well.  
But Piper had declared that he´d go, with or without James. It was one of the hardest decisions James ever made:  
His conscience told him to go, his rational mind told him not to.  
His sense of morality told him to go, his survival instinct had screamed at him not to.  
The odd urge to protect and be wherever Piper was told him to go, so he went.  
Damn Piper and his conscience - Piper had not hesitated to go. He felt bad, he blamed himself, he did not even expect absolution, only more blame. Nevertheless, for him it was the right thing to do.

During the funeral his inner alarm system shrilled to life - danger! His old life as a Rogue took over and he ran. On the parking lot they decided it would be better for the both of them if they split up. It was easier for one to run, two people were easier to spot.  
Also, James decided that he was in inner turmoil, obviously confused and all because of Piper. Maybe he could clear his head if he stayed away from Piper for a bit. And after all, his speciality was to draw attention to himself ( one word: pants), Piper´s was to hide.

Of course it didn´t go as according to plan - they were kidnapped by the Suicide Squad (and seriously, how lame was that?). They were blamed for Bart´s death. And shackled together. The handcuff felt uncomfortable; too tight, too heavy; it threw him off balance. And balance was crucial for any aerial artist.  
The shock chain allowed them minimal room to maneuver - it was like a sick game. They were forced to stay together to prevent escaping. The reason why eluded James: If they would really want to keep them from running, why hadn´t they bound them to something immovable? Or one of their own? Sadly it occurred to him too late that there was a sadistic trick behind this.

But he wasn´t thinking normal - he was in panic, adrenaline rushed through his veins, his heart pumped the blood pounding through his body - and there was Piper. So close to him, only a palm away from him. So near, he could feel his warmth, feel his body as a solid presence at his back, he felt something in his stomach flutter as if butterflies - no! He couldn´t possibly....

Old habits kicked in and they ran. Their escape involved the drop from a ridiculous height, but luckily Piper had grabbed their gear with his shoes.  
"May the force with us", he thought as he put one on. His skywalker-shoes were a kind of personal joke to him.  
The air rushed past them, they fell towards the blue speck at the ground.  
Too fast! James´heart was grabbed by the iron hand of fear - he was falling, no one there to catch him, please, help me, dad! - and then Piper had managed to put on the second shoe.  
The fall slowed down, didn´t grind to a halt as he was used to. But it was okay: they were still too fast, the impact would hurt, but not kill. He had to smile inwardly as Piper still made snarky comments still when they were plummeting to almost certain death.

They were hitting water - water was better than the ground. Their speed had slowed down enough to make the impact a lot less painful than it would have been just one minute before.  
As they hit the water, James felt pain, cold and fear. He was disoriented for a second, didn´t know which way was up and which was down, until he felt something, someone tugging him back to surface. Piper had started to swim upwards, James followed. It was a miracle they managed it without setting off the chain. He gulped for air as soon as his head was out of the icy depths.

"Piper? You okay, man?" Next to him Piper looked like a drowned rat. "Soaking wet, chilled to the core, but otherwise fine," Piper replied, "where are we?"


End file.
